LOCAL VIBES | Development
Sandalwood is gone. A 43-unit condo-hotel is coming in its place. The internet has opinions. The project has plans. Welcome to Pinellas County beach real estate, where everyone is naturally handling it calmly.
“…just looking like crap for a long time.”
That is how Jeff Beggins described what could have happened to the former Sandalwood site if no one stepped in after the storm damage.
When St. Pete Vibes spoke with Beggins, broker-owner of Century 21 Beggins Enterprises and the developer behind the redevelopment, the comments were already heated. Some people saw the project as greed, overdevelopment, and another sign of locals being pushed out. Beggins saw it differently: a damaged property that either had to be rebuilt, redeveloped, or left sitting in limbo.
But the full story is more complicated than one soundbite.
So we brought the loudest criticism directly to him, on camera, on site, while demolition was still underway.
Watch it below.
Whenever a new development hits Pinellas County beaches, the reaction usually gets there before the bulldozer does.
Sometimes those concerns are fair. Sometimes they have been building for years. And sometimes they show up before the full story has even found parking.
The Sandalwood North Redington Beach development has become exactly that kind of debate. On paper, it is a redevelopment of a hurricane-damaged site. To critics, it looks like another coastal property turning into an investment play.
Both sides have a point. Neither one gets to skip the inconvenient parts. That is the tension here. Not villain versus visionary.
Just Pinellas Beach real estate doing what it does best: making everyone argue over the same sunset.
What the Comments Are Really Reacting To
The anger that followed coverage of this project was not really about the old building being torn down.
It was about the feeling.
Neighbors pushed back hard. One called it unreal that big companies swoop in after a natural disaster, run out locals, and call it progress. Another said the development drives up property values and makes it impossible for people who already live there to afford being there. A 15-year resident said watching it happen felt horrible.
People have watched Pinellas County beach towns change one project at a time, then get told each project is just one project. A condo here. A hotel there. A restaurant that technically welcomes everyone, even as the coastline starts to feel less and less built for the people who already live nearby.
At some point, the pattern becomes the point.
Some of the pushback was heated. Some were probably oversimplified. Some skipped the details and went straight to outrage. But the instinct behind it is not hard to understand.
When a storm-damaged coastal property becomes a new development, people do not just see one building. They see the next chapter in a story they already think they know.
What the Comments May Be Missing
But the other side of the coin is not hard to understand either.
The former Sandalwood site was not a functioning local landmark being casually swapped out for luxury units. It was a hurricane-damaged property with major physical and financial problems. Repairs cost money. Insurance gets complicated. Timelines stretch. Owners have to decide whether to rebuild, sell, wait, fight, or move on.
Then developers show up, because that is often who has the capital, risk tolerance, and appetite to carry a damaged site forward. That does not automatically make them villains.
Jeff was direct about the displacement criticism specifically. His version of events: the previous owners were personal friends of his for two decades. No one came in and forced anyone out. The hurricane rendered the property unusable, and the owners had to decide what to do next. Jeff and his partners stepped in.
That context does not settle the broader debate about coastal development patterns. Critics can still reasonably argue that each individual project, however locally connected, adds to a cumulative pressure that reshapes who can afford to be near the water. But the specific claim that outsiders swooped in and displaced locals does not hold up against Jeff’s account of how this deal actually came together.
On the rising property value concern, Jeff’s first response was blunt:
“I guess I could say you’re welcome.”
But he did not stop there. His actual argument was more specific than the quip suggests. According to Jeff, the condo-hotel model was a deliberate choice to keep the project accessible. The alternative, he said, was putting up $3 or $4 million condos that far fewer people could afford. The condo-hotel structure, with buyers able to put 20 to 25 percent down and offset costs through rental income, was framed as the more affordable path to beach ownership, not the more exclusive one.
That case is worth hearing on its own terms. Whether a 20 to 25 percent down payment on an as-yet-unpriced beach unit actually qualifies as affordable is a separate question. But the argument is not simply that rising tides lift all boats. It is that this particular project was designed with cost accessibility in mind, compared to what else could have gone there.
So What Is Actually Being Built?
According to Beggins, the redevelopment is planned as:
- 43 condo-hotel units, ranging from 900 to 1,200 square feet each
- Balconies on both sides of each unit, Gulf views included
- First-floor parking and a pool
- Tiki bar at pool level, facing the water
- Second-floor restaurant, open to the public, full glass walls, balcony seating, sunset views
- Condo-hotel ownership model: individual buyers purchase units, and rental income is designed to offset ownership costs
The timeline is still tied to several moving pieces. Jeff said the next 18 months will focus on finalizing plans, confirming costs, testing pre-sales, and securing deposits before construction moves forward.
What Comes Next for Florida Real Estate?
The former Sandalwood site does not exist in a vacuum. To Beggins, it is one piece of a much bigger bet on Florida real estate.
He pointed to several projects already underway, including the Sandalwood redevelopment, the Marriott Autograph Beachmaker, the Schooner, a project at John’s Pass, and other spec homes across the area. In other words, this is not a developer hedging his bets. It is someone who is very confident about where the market is heading.
His outlook comes down to a few possible forces: lower interest rates, more buyer demand, potential 40-year mortgages, and the idea of letting homeowners carry low mortgage rates into a new purchase. If those pieces come together, Beggins believes the market could unlock quickly.
That is the investment case. Waterfront land is limited. Demand is still there. And for developers, the goal is simple: get close to the water and build something people will want.
Of course, that same logic is exactly why residents worry. The more valuable the coast becomes, the more pressure it puts on the people already living there.
Want to hear the full breakdown from Jeff? Watch the full project video below.
This Is Not Just a Sandalwood Story
Sandalwood is one building on one stretch of Gulf Boulevard in one beach town. But the debate around it is playing out across Pinellas County’s beach communities.
Storm damage accelerated a development timeline that was already moving fast. Properties that might have stayed in family hands became harder to hold as costs rose and financial pressure mounted.
Waiting is expensive. Rebuilding is expensive. Doing nothing is not really free either.
That is why this debate gets messy.
Developers can say they are bringing capital, vision, and momentum to a damaged site. Communities can say every “next chapter” seems to cost more, look shinier, and serve a narrower group of people.
This is not a clean fight between “greedy developers” and “noble locals.” It is not a clean story about a local builder rescuing a damaged property either. It is a fight over who gets to shape the next version of the coast when the land is valuable, the shoreline is changing, and nobody involved is completely neutral.
Whether that feels like greed or progress depends on where you are standing, how long you have been there, and whether you can afford what comes next.
Leave You With This
The former Sandalwood site is not a clean moral story. It is what happens when storm damage, coastal scarcity, public access, and private investment collide.
Developers see opportunity. Buyers see a rare asset. Locals see a place becoming harder to recognize. Visitors still want the sunset, preferably with parking and a decent drink nearby.
The redevelopment may bring public-facing amenities. It may offer a lower-barrier path to beach ownership than other high-end coastal projects. It may also push this stretch of North Redington Beach further into investment-property territory.
None of those things cancels out the others. Maybe you hate it. Maybe you understand why it is happening. Maybe both things are true.
That is Pinellas County beach real estate in one argument.